Josh Ong
An in-depth review and teardown by Brian Klug of Anandtech has revealed that modifications quietly made by Apple to the two devices result, in some cases, in a significant boost to signal strength and range.
In addition to increased power output, Apple appears to have switched from Marvell WLAN cards to the Broadcom BCM4331, which is the same single chip solution found in the Early 2011 MacBook Pro. Another difference between the fifth-generation Airport Extreme and the previous generation is the inclusion of "finger-stock EMI gaskets" around the metal tray inside the device.
Klug's extensive wireless performance tests on the new Airport Extreme showed modest improvement in received signal strength, with the difference being more visible on the 2.4GHz range than 5 GHz. A Modulation Coding Scheme test, which "shows how fast the card is connecting to the 802.11n network," revealed "massive increases" in performance for locations farther away from the base station.
File transfer tests showed substantial improvements to downstream speeds in more remote locations, and dramatic gains to upstream performance across the board. Upstream throughput "is almost always over double, thanks probably in part to the better front end and receive sensitivity of the Airport Extreme’s new wireless stack," Klug noted.
Source: Anandtech
Running the Iperf test showed a significant increase for the 2011 MacBook Pro, which features a BCM4331 wireless card with support for 3x3:3, and boosts to challenging RF scenarios for the 2010 MacBook Pro, which has the BCM4322 and 2x2:2.
"At the end of the day, the new Airport Extreme dramatically improves throughput in the best case and in a few regions where signal was previously unusable. In the worst case [the Kitchen], performance improves from being essentially unusable to totally fine, and in the case of the [2010 MacBook Pro] goes from not being able to connect at all to pushing 23 Mbps," Klug concluded.
For the fourth-generation Time Capsule, the publication ran just a few tests to compare performance against the fifth-generation Airport Extreme. According to the report, the two devices should have similar performance, as any differences detected in the tests were "minuscule."
The FCC provided an early look at the refreshed AirPort Extreme ahead of its release. The filings with the agency indicated that Apple had increased the power output of the device by as much as 2.8 times.
Apple quietly updated its Airport Extreme and Time Capsule products in late June, providing no mention of any changes to the hardware other than a capacity bump to 3TB for the Time Capsule.
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16 Comments
While I only have 2 iphone's and 1 ipod touch, but no Macs, I might have to look into the new Airport Extreme, because those are some damn fine performance numbers. I have tried so many different wireless access points and have yet to find a truly stable one....
I wonder if the latest Airport Extreme signal travels better through walls in an old building, compared to 09/2003 AirPort Extreme Base Station like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airportextreme.jpg
It's my understanding that there is metal mesh in such old buildings walls... So maybe no Airport can fight that metal in the walls?
I'll probably buy this latest Airport Extreme for my New MBP and iPhone, and the Old one will stay paired to my PB G7, 10.4.11... Then, if I need to Copy Files wirelessly I'll Log my PB G4 into the Newest one's Network.
My thinking is to keep MBP and PB G4 on 2 Separate Networks, so that PB G4 doesn't slow down the News Airport & MBP/Lion + Next iPhone!
Meanwhile, best wishes to all True AAPL Investors! We Shall Overcome!
My walls are concrete with steel beams. I had to use a repeater just reach the front rooms. Even cell phones get zero bars in my place
I would say that you'll only start to see the Time Capsule become a non issue, i.e. the thing it is supposed to be, when WiGig gets rolled out - which you should start to see late this year beginning next in 2012. That will give 6Gbps within about 10m range, so backing up won't be an issue.
And while the TC is about storage, thus the predictable increases in TB (up to 3TB now) the use of SSD will dramatically cut the main issues people have with the TC; which is heat! It gets too hot and that is dangerous for a backup solution. So, SSD will not only sort that but the speed of which multiple users can backup to, blasting past the 6Gb controller hampering HDDs now (just as with Thunderbolt).
Finally, spintronics. Well, not just yet, but this will allow for devices to operate without heating up at all, that will benefit everybody and so I cannot wait for that! - it deserves a mention!
I wonder if the latest Airport Extreme signal travels better through walls in an old building, compared to 09/2003 AirPort Extreme Base Station like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airportextreme.jpg
It will. It has much better RF hardware and power. Also, your new MBP and iPhone both have 802.11n which has an approximate indoor range of about twice that of the b/g network in that old extreme. The extreme is also simultaneous dual-band capable so I think that running the powerbook on the 2.4Ghz b/g link shouldn't interfere with the n side of things, though I'm not 100% sure of that. You can try it and see if it's causing trouble and if it is take the 2 network approach that you're thinking of.
It's my understanding that there is metal mesh in such old buildings walls... So maybe no Airport can fight that metal in the walls?
I'll probably buy this latest Airport Extreme for my New MBP and iPhone, and the Old one will stay paired to my PB G7, 10.4.11... Then, if I need to Copy Files wirelessly I'll Log my PB G4 into the Newest one's Network.
My thinking is to keep MBP and PB G4 on 2 Separate Networks, so that PB G4 doesn't slow down the News Airport & MBP/Lion + Next iPhone!
Meanwhile, best wishes to all True AAPL Investors! We Shall Overcome!